Myth, meaning, and memory on Roman sarcophagi

by Michael Koortbojian

In this study of Roman mythological sarcophagi, Michael Koortbojian unravels the meaning of these ancient funerary monuments and assesses their significance in the broader context of Roman life. As he examines the character and structure of the mythological narratives of Adonis and Endymion, he demonstrates how the stories depicted on these marble sarcophagi were conflated with the lives of those individuals they were intended to recall. Mythology was an evocative force in ancient life and imagery, one that powerfully manifested the complicity between past and present. Stories of the ancient heroes, traditionally regarded as examples of conduct or models for emulation, were elaborated in light of contemporary needs and played a fundamental role in an ongoing process of cultural self-identity. An ancient penchant for analogy, and a Roman appreciation of allusion, provided artists with the rationale to transform the Greek myths they had inherited. As the artists likened one thing to anot